Lay Off Our Bill

By WILLIAM SAFIRE

Published: February 19, 2001

WASHINGTON — I refuse to join the thundering herd of disgusted liberal columnists and irate Democratic politicians in their stampede to castigate our former president for appearing to sell a pardon to a fugitive billionaire.

That's because I feel no sudden need to "get right on Clinton." As longtime enablers rush to kick him when he's down in the polls and out of office, my contrarian impulse is to come to his defense.

We begin by stipulating that Marc Rich is an unrepentant tax cheat who paid a quarter-million dollars to a former Clinton lawyer privy to his old boss's darkest secrets. And the lawyer, Jack Quinn, orchestrated an end run around safeguards that usually prevent abuses of the clemency power.

Next, dispense with foolish defenses that Clinton has been mounting, namely:

1. Everybody does it. Yes, Ford pardoned Nixon, Bush pardoned Weinberger and our foremost founding father went squishy-soft on Whiskey Rebellion miscreants. But that tu quoque defense never flies; besides, Presidents' Day is no time to hint at impeaching George Washington.

2. The Israelis made me do it only whips up anti-Semitism, and the Mossad is passing word that Rich wasn't as important an asset as Jonathan Pollard. Worse, the three Republican lawyers you originally claimed were advocating the pardon nailed your assertion as false, tainting your Op- Ed defense with confusing qualifiers.

3. "I have no infrastructure to deal with this." Your plea for pity emboldens Democrats who for years resented your power to keep them in line. A further protestation of helplessness would bring more defections of former loyalists that not even fear of Senator Hillary could stop.

4. "There's not a single, solitary shred of evidence that I did anything wrong." This repeats a formulation you've had to back off before. It argues that if they can't prove you broke the law, you are blameless, and it challenges investigators to come up with shreds and shreds. The New York prosecutor of Rich you circumvented — whose teamsters-McAuliffe-D.N.C. investigation is now five years old — sees this as a way to stay in office through George W.'s term, which your invitation helps.

Quit making these defensive blunders. Adopt a more aggressive strategy.

1. I'll be back and you'll be sorry. This would suppress Democratic fire; no more "brain dead" cracks out of Joe Biden or dismayed hand-wringing out of Barney Frank. You control the D.N.C. through your man, Moneybags McAuliffe; you own New York voters, city and state, and the Comeback Kid will ride again — as the millionaire mayor or governor — to be kingmaker at the 2004 convention.

2. Stop denying; accuse, accuse, accuse. Denounce this as the final convulsion of the vast right-wing conspiracy, exacerbated this time by formerly friendly media out to curry favor with the G.O.P. White House. Bite the lip and assume the posture of Clinton the all-merciful, a vigorous victim of beady-eyed lawmen furious at you for daring to spring the innocent and downtrodden, of whom only one was a billionaire client of your former counsel.

3. "There was absolutely no quid pro quo." With these words on this page yesterday, you shrewdly escalated the potential charge to bribery. Denise Rich delivered about $1.5 million to you and yours (quid?); you delivered something of greater value to her and hers (quo?). She refuses to testify because she says it could incriminate her. If indicted by Mary Jo Molasses, Denise could not count on a Clinton pardon as Susan McDougal did. But you were smart to demand judgment on a hard-to-prove case of bribery, which usually requires that a conspirator sing.

4. If you're ashamed of my standards, the fault is yours, not mine. Say this: I stonewalled and intimidated witnesses and gave false testimony under oath — and copped a plea, didn't I? So why are you kicking about my denials now? I got huge contributions from my Asian connection, then reversed my China policy — and got away with it, didn't I? So why are you whining about bribery now?

That last defense is Clinton's clincher. Having applauded his shamelessness through eight years, only hypocrites among his steadfast supporters can complain about his shaming the presidency on his way out.